United Launch Alliance is heading again to the launch pad with a Vulcan rocket forward of the car’s second launch. ULA must efficiently fly this second certification mission earlier than it may start launching nationwide safety payloads for the U.S. House Power and the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace.
Liftoff of the mission dubbed Cert-2 is focusing on Friday, Oct. 4, throughout a three-hour launch widow that opens at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 UTC). ULA accomplished stacking the rocket on Sunday, Sept. 21.
Following a stretch of dodgy climate attributable to Hurricane Helene, Monday guarantees to be a sunny day on Florida’s House Coast because the rocket emerges from the Vertical Integration Facility to start the 550-meter (0.34 mi.) journey to the launchpad.
After the Monday morning rollout, the 202-foot-tall (61.6 m) rocket will bear a tanking check on Tuesday, known as a moist costume rehearsal. When totally fueled, this variant of the Vulcan rocket, designation VC2S, weighs roughly 1.5 million kilos (663,000 kg).
There are not any plans to conduct a static hearth check of the 2 BE-4 engines on the bottom of the rocket previous to launch.
The mission will carry an inert payload, that means nothing is designed to separate from the Centaur 5 higher stage of the rocket following the deployment of the payload fairings. Throughout a June teleconference with members of the press, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno talked about that the Cert-2 flight will carry some experiments and expertise demonstrations “which might be related to expertise growth for future insertion into our Centaur 5 higher stage.”
“We’ll do some maneuvers with the higher stage simply to full characterize the bounds of what Centaur 5 can do. We’ll measure the way it behaves relative to its cryogenics,” Bruno stated through the June 26 teleconference. “Clearly, it’s a really lengthy period higher stage that’s required for these direct-injection, high-energy orbits, so it lasts a extremely very long time. However as you realize, as you may guess, we’d by no means plan a mission and didn’t design it proper to the wire of after we’d be out of propellant or when the boil off would eat and acceptable quantity of propellant. Now we have some margins and setbacks from that, however this is a chance for us to get some actually extra direct measurements on how that boil off conduct occurs. So, we’ll be measuring that, together with these maneuvers.
“We’ll even have experiments connected to this inert payload that can assist us perceive learn how to prolong the period of the higher stage and what the bounds, sensible limits to that could be sooner or later.”
Since then, Bruno and ULA have remained pretty quiet as to the specifics of these tech demos and experiments. In a tongue and cheek social media response to a query concerning the Cert-2 payload, Bruno merely stated “Extremely proprietary, secret sauce. It’s going to be awhile earlier than we share extra.”
ULA made the dedication to not carry a buyer payload onboard the rocket after Sierra House allow them to know that their Dream Chaser spaceplane wouldn’t be prepared for its deliberate launch to the Worldwide House Station.
Like Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, Sierra House can be a part of the Industrial Resupplies Service 2 (CRS-2) contract with NASA. In a 2016 press launch, Sierra House stated “Dream Chaser will present a minimal of six cargo supply missions to and from the ISS between 2019 and 2024.”
On Sept. 27, Sierra House stated it accomplished a check to confirm that its Passive Frequent Berthing Mechanism (PCBM) met NASA’s requirements to permit for a secure docking with the ISS. Earlier this month, it stated its Capturing Star cargo module completed with its acoustic testing.
“Our progressive Capturing Star cargo module provides the potential to ship further capability, flexibility and energy to a variety of missions,” stated Sierra House CEO, Tom Vice, in an announcement. “In our first mission, Capturing Star will carry crucial science, meals and cargo to the Worldwide House Station for NASA, and our cargo modules will proceed to play an integral position in bringing provides to house as we construct a Low Earth Orbit financial system via business spaceflight.”
The four-day check marketing campaign was designed to make sure that it may “stand up to the acoustic setting of a launch on a Vulcan Centaur rocket.”
Our staff efficiently accomplished the ISS Joint Take a look at of our Passive Frequent Berthing Mechanism (PCBM). This check verified that the PCBM meets NASA’s requirements. It included leak assessments and alignment checks, guaranteeing the berthing interface security between Dream Chaser and the ISS. pic.twitter.com/qvHCICdFT6
— Sierra House (@SierraSpaceCo) September 27, 2024
Spherical two
Finishing the Cert-2 mission is essential to ULA. Not solely will it permit the corporate to launch nationwide safety payloads utilizing the Vulcan rocket, nevertheless it additionally strengthens their place to bid on future missions for NASA.
In a September 2024 interview with Ars Technica, Tim Dunn, the senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Providers Program primarily based on the Kennedy House Heart, stated reaching a profitable flight with Cert-1 “allowed them to be ready to bid on our missions.”
“A second Cert flight that can then show a couple of different capabilities of the rocket permits extra knowledge for our certification staff that’s working in live performance with the US House Power’s certification staff,” Dunn informed Ars’ Stephen Clark. “We’re doing a number of shared, intergovernmental collaborations within the certification work, so it permits us all extra knowledge, extra confidence in that launch car to satisfy all of the wants that we consider we may have within the coming decade-plus.”
Nonetheless, a profitable second flight of Vulcan doesn’t routinely imply ULA will get to maneuver to those necessary authorities missions. Throughout an look on the Air, House and Cyber Convention earlier this month, House Information reported that Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, who serves as the chief officer for the U.S. House Power’s Assured Entry to House program, stated that “it’s not instantaneous that if they’ve a clear flight, they’re routinely licensed.”
“We may have a number of knowledge to undergo after that simply to make it possible for all the things carried out as much as expectations. We are going to want a while after that to make it possible for all the things was clear,” Panzenhagen stated. “We’re undoubtedly wanting ahead to having them be utterly licensed, so we will begin these nationwide safety house launches.”
Throughout his feedback in June, Bruno stated they meant to launch USSF-106 and USSF-87 earlier than the top of the calendar 12 months. Each of the Vulcan rockets that shall be used to assist this mission have been delivered to the Cape earlier this 12 months earlier than ULA despatched its Rocketship barge off to get some work completed at a dry dock.
Because it awaits these future launches, ULA can be persevering with work on its second VIF situated at Cape Canaveral House Power Station in addition to the launch infrastructure at House Launch Advanced 3 (SLC-3) situated at Vandenberg House Power Base. Bruno stated on social media that each belongings will come into play in 2025.
Mounting a brand new swing arm atop the umbilical tower at SLC-3. The higher swing arm will service the hydrogen vent for Centaur V, whereas the decrease swingarm will home engine chilldown and hazgas traces along with delivering hydrogen and LOX into the Centaur V.
#vulcanrocket . pic.twitter.com/PEJFkE0cjP— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 28, 2024
